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Are you too nice to be in business?

Posted by janinedavison on March 15, 2016

It’s super competitive and you are going to have to learn to manipulate people. So are you too nice to be in business?

Being a Sales Coach, people often tell me I, “Have the gift of the gab” etc but the fact is that my skills are 100% learnt! Sales skills are learned skills. Skills that you MUST learn in order to survive in business. Just so we are clear, no one is born a Salesperson.

But it’s hard to learn how to be great at Sales, because Sales is a Manipulation. Now if I had a dollar for every business owner who has told me they aren’t a Salesperson I would be really rich…..but my response is always the same. FACT: If you are in business, you are in Sales!

Sales is a manipulation because you are trying to get someone to buy what you are selling. And because the word manipulation has negative connotations, this stops many business owners in their tracks! Sales is about CONVERTING a prospect into a PAYING customer. And nice people struggle with this, because it will take you WAY out of your comfort zone and force you to say things that don’t come naturally to you. This affects your confidence and let’s the self doubt creep in! And your sales get lost!

Now I see many (nice) business owners start up with a (nice) website, a (nice) Facebook page, (nice) business cards and then become a serial business networking attendee talking to other (nice) business owners but all of that is simply wasted if you cannot close a sale.

Why do you think so many startup business owners end up back in a job within a year? They might be great at what they do but not-so-great at business and sales, which actually is the most crucial knowledge that will keep you in business. Many often eventually fall back into part-time work to make ends meet, which (in my opinion) is the beginning of the end of your business. And that fact still stands that 8/10 small businesses fail within 2 years in Australia.

So if the odds are stacked against you when you startup in business, what are YOU going to do so that YOU do not become the next statistic?

The tip here is commit to LEARN. There’s that old saying, “The More You Learn The More You Earn” and you still hear it from time to time, because its true!

You need to make time each week to LEARN about Business & LEARN how to make Sales. Especially if you aren’t making many right now!

What I say to my clients is; “The Money you want is actually outside your comfort zone. Stay where you are and you will get exactly what you have right now. If that is not enough and you want more you have to learn more, commit more and plan your success with an accountability partner or coach!”

So think about whether you are too nice to be in business? How much business do you cost yourself because you don’t ASK for the business and don’t CLOSE the people that you are talking to….

And just to be clear, this doesn’t mean you have to turn yourself into a “Business-card-collecting-bitch” at the next business networking event you attend. It just means you have to have a PURPOSE around your business promotion. And that purpose, should be learning how to close a sale, so that you can STAY in Business and have the success you have always dreamed of!